Half-Life: Borealis
by pointlessspike
Summary: It now seems pretty certain that the Half-Life saga will not be continuing officially. However, the writer, Marc Laidlaw, has given us "Epistle 3", a copyright-friendly continuation /epistle-3/). I've fleshed this out a bit and modified the ending slightly. Other than that, it should be faithful to the games.
1. Chapter 1

Doctor Kate Wakefield hurried to finish her work on the Bootstrap device, feeling nauseous. She had been working out of the Tocsin Island base for the better part of two years on this thing. A completely crazy idea that no-one had expected to work... and yet, there was a serious chance of it being pulled off. Kate was certain, in fact, that it would work. This had been a chance to finally prove that her appointment hadn't been a mistake, that a woman could lead a team of researchers. But this goddamn alien invasion had decimated that hope.  
She almost felt bad for feeling that way- the aliens had destroyed so many that it seemed wrong to care about her career. It seemed possible that none of them would live soon. The sheer firepower the aliens had displayed meant that they could do whatever they wanted with humanity now. They seemed content on domination, rather than extermination, but who knew whether they would allow the researchers to live?

Kate had been the one to make this decision. To deny them this technology, which they seemed not to have. Once they were on Earth, they apparently relied on local transport. The Boostrap device would give them the ability to invade who knew how many other worlds.

Once she'd been completely flabbergasted by the technology possessed by Aperture Science Laboritories. The portal gun they'd created had been a marvel. Their hiring of her to develop what was at the time only hypothetical had been unreal. The ability to teleport a ship across the world- and potentially beyond- was something she'd never dreamt of. But now this technology was only a liability. Something they had to destroy. She'd already given direction to destroy all the data in the facility, and she'd gotten word that the Enrichment Center was being sealed up as well. With any luck, the aliens would have no idea about their advances.

Finally, it was done, she realised. She'd been working on autopilot as she reflected, but now the device was installed. There were all manner of tests she wanted to do, but she just had to hope that the thing actually worked. If it did, they could recover it later. They'd never find it all the way in the Antarctic, at least not before they had a chance to recover it. Then, whatever kind of resistance formed could find it and use it.

She headed back outside, noting again the cold winter air. She wished she had put something on, but she'd been too pre-occupied to think of it. She almost laughed to think of that concern being on her mind at that moment. She shook her head and continued to the control pad on the jetty that had been set up. They'd been intending on testing it properly the following week, but almost everything had been set up as they conducted other tests. But those tests hadn't been done, so now she found herself staring at the button that would send the ship away.

Her hand hovered over it... and pressed it.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Long enough for Kate to wonder whether it had just failed. But then, the ship started to shimmer, and Kate found that she could see through it.  
"Come on, baby..." she murmured as it slowly phased out of existence.  
Soon, all that was left were bright colours in the air- the Borealis that had been noted in smaller tests when things had travelled from place to place. They would fade in a few hours. It was an artifact of the energies that allowed it to travel in higher dimensions. Waste light.  
Kate waited a moment, just to make sure, and nothing happened. There was no sign the ship had ever been there. She started to feel the cold again, and decided to head back. She'd oversee the deletion of the data, and then they'd all head home to be with their families. There was nothing else they could do now except try to keep their loved ones safe.  
No-one would ever know where they had worked, such had been the secrecy. And the aliens would have no idea that the Borealis existed, until they could find a way to use the technology again and head to Antarctica.

As Kate walked back along the dock, she mourned her future, and hoped she wouldn't have to mourn that of humanity.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the helicopter touched the ground, the resistance fighters leapt out and Judith shut it down. They had been lucky- the weather was favourable, and they should be able to get the data and leave again without any trouble. The facility looked inactive. That was not surprising, as it hadn't been staffed for a long time. Judith had been there, of course, years ago. She'd set up a longer-term power supply as a way to monitor transmissions, somewhere the Combine were unlikely to find it. The only problem was that to stay undetected, it had to avoid sending anything out, so the data stayed on site and they had to physically go there to read it.

The facility wasn't, of course, locked. The fighters checked the place out to be certain it was clear, while Judith headed straight to the control center.

it took about half an hour to find what she needed- records from the transmission the Combine had sent to start the superportal. It took a few more minutes to figure out how to decode it. Judith grinned broadly at her success, then her grin turned to amazement as she saw something else. Another transmission... the Borealis! It was transmitting! She stared at the data in shock for a moment, before recovering. There was a lot, as well. The transmission had embedded in it all sorts of information about the Borealis. The facility had automatically compiled it, and it was just sitting there.  
Judith scrolled through it. Schematics of both the ship and the technology, supplementary data... it looked like they'd just included all their data with it. All of it, right there, waiting for them!  
The transmission was strong, really strong. It couldn't be far away- in fact, the original site where it was supposed to materialise would fit. She had to pursue this. If the Combine got a hold of it, that would be a problem for their own work. Their portal technology was based partially on Aperture portals, so the Combine, if they got a hold of it, could use that against them. It was incredible that it was there after all. They'd searched the Arctic before, hoping the transmitter was just damaged in some way, but it seemed like the Borealis had never rematerialised. Perhaps Eli had been right, and the Borealis had travelled in time somehow as well...

Judith took a mental step back. She needed to send the portal code- that was the main objective for the moment. She could worry about the Borealis afterward. She focused on using the transmitter to send the code back to White Forest. While she was at it, she'd have to tell Eli what she'd found and embed the data as well. The Combine would receive it, no doubt, but she encrypted it. They might still break through the encryption, but she was nothing if not sneaky. She would hide the transmission in the portal code, and then within that, hide that data in a secondary layer. They'd find the transmission and think that was all there was to find, but Eli knew here better than that. He'd find it, no problem.

There was a camera and microphone there, so Judith held the camera and set the transmission to send as she recorded. She also ensured it was simultaneously broadcasting the portal code.  
"I'm fairly sure I've pinned down the location of the Project. It's hard to say how much of it might have survived intact, or whether there's anything remaining that could compromise our work... if it were discovered by the Combine. We'll need to take a close look at it, of course, but I should be able to give a better opinion within a few hours. If the site is where we think it is, then it should be no more than..."  
An explosion rocked the facility. Damn, Judith thought. She'd hoped for more time.  
"I'm going to cut this short. We may have been spotted."  
She heard a noise- a breaching charge! She backed away from the console and ran. As she did, there was the thump of the charge detonating, and the resistance fighters, which had come back, opened fire. Judith just ran back to the helicopter. She had to get to the Borealis.

As she got in the helicopter, a thought occurred- that if they had known they were there, the Citadel might have blocked the transmission. They might be the only ones to receive it. But she had no choice but to continue, and hope they got the portal code.

Eli Vance's funeral was hastily organised in the midst of an evacuation. Now that the superportal had been neutralized, White Forest had become more of a liability than an asset, so they were going to move out. Dr. Arne Magnusson had made his opinion clear- that he would prefer to spend the time organising the evacuation and they could have it later. But Alyx had been insistent that they have it before they left, and Magnusson hadn't pushed too hard.

Gordon watched stoically as the funeral started. Alex and Isaac Kleiner both said some words. Alyx had asked if Gordon wanted to say anything, but he just shook his head. He was a quiet person in general, and he had only known Eli a long time ago. Or, at least, it had been from their perspective. D0g was there, as well, sat down, waiting. Gordon suspected he didn't really understand what was going on.

It was over quickly, and then it was time to leave.  
Dr. Kleiner said to Alyx, "I wish you didn't have to go right now. It's a terrible time. But..."  
Alyx continued, knowing what he'd say, "The Borealis can't wait. I know. We can mourn later, and Dad wouldn't want me to let my feelings come before the fate of the species."  
Kleiner gave a small smile. "Quite."  
He looked to Gordon. "At least I can be sure you'll be in capable hands. Gordon, you have done so much for us. When you return, we'll have a proper hero's welcome for you. For both of you."  
Magnusson was gruff as ever. "Yes, I'm sure we'll all be grateful to them. But we have an evacuation to get on with!"  
Kleiner shot him a look of irritation. "We can spare a moment, Magnusson."  
He shook his head and said to the departing duo, "We can hope the Combine haven't gotten to the Borealis before you do. You'll have to be careful. If they have, you'll need to come back immediately so we can plan our next move. Well, to the new base, anyway."  
"We will," Alyx promised. "We should head out. Good luck with the evacuation."  
Kleiner smiled and replied, "Good luck to you too, my dear. To both of you."  
He headed inside and Magnusson said to them, "Yes. Good luck. See you at the new base."  
D0g escorted them to the helicopter. When they got there, Alyx said her goodbyes to him. He was clearly sad to see her go, but soon they were off, with Alyx flying the aircraft out of the hangar while a resistance fighter operated the door.  
When they were fully underway, Alyx said to Gordon, "The Combine are going to pay for this. All of it. The damage they've done to us... we'll return it, tenfold."  
There was a steely look in her eyes. Gordon agreed with her, but he felt a profound sadness at the hatred she felt. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she covered it with her free hand, acknowledging the sentiment. Then the moment was over, and they settled in for a long flight.


	3. Chapter 3

Gordon slept the whole way. The last time he'd had a chance was when he'd been knocked unconscious after the detonation of the Citadel reactor. He dreamed of being in a house with hunters outside, trying to get in. And there he was, alone, with only a crowbar. In the end, it wasn't the hunters that got him. It was a giant slug that floated, and held him up with telekinesis, then turned him around so he couldn't see it.  
He woke up with a start, and Alyx asked if he was okay. He nodded, and she told him that they would be there soon anyway. They were now headed over what looked like an ocean of ice. Vast, and mostly featureless.

Twenty minutes later, there was an explosion behind them. Alyx swore as the helicopter starting spinning out of control. "Tail rotor's gone. We're going down."  
She managed to crash them somewhat gently, but there was a blizzard so they couldn't see a thing. Nevertheless, expecting the Combine to investigate the crash site, they left the bird quickly and headed out. Alyx had packed a thick coat and goggles for her, while Gordon was fine in the hazard suit.  
The suit's synthesised voice sounded a cold warning, but Gordon barely heard it over the howling wind. It was freezing cold, but they still had to head out, towards a blip on a handheld device Alyx had that cold them the direction to go in. They held hands to avoid being separated by the blizzard, as they could barely see a few meters in front.

It was probably half an hour before the blizzard cleared. There was what they had dreaded to see: a Combine facility. The Blizzard had actually helped to cover their approach, and they were practically at the gates.  
Alyx said, "Dr. Kleiner said that we should come back if they were here. But it looks like we don't have much choice but to continue. We'll have to hope there's a way back."  
It turned out not to be difficult to find a way in- there was a door to the inside, and Alyx hacked the lock to get them in. Alyx said, "I guess they didn't really expect someone to be able to get in on foot. We caught a break with that blizzard."  
Once inside, they saw that the "facility" was really just a fortification around a shelf of ice. The Combine had clearly just burned a path through it to get to the Borealis. They'd also stationed some soldiers inside, but Gordon and Alyx made short work of them, as they were surprised to find them there. As they headed down, they noticed a stange effect in the air, like it was wavering, and there were strange tinges of light. It got stronger as they kept going. Gordon assumed it was from whatever technology the Borealis was carrying, and Alyx noted it and surmised it could be a part of a Combine lensing system.

Eventually, as they kept descending, encountering more soldiers, they came across a combine terminal. Alyx stopped to access it. Gordon kept them covered in case Combine soldiers happened across them, but none did while they stopped there.  
Alyx told him, "It looks like the Combine found the ship a while ago. But it's been shifting in and out of our reality. Like it's both here and not here, materialising in pulses. The pulses are getting quicker, and the Combine think they'll be able to board it when the pulses are quick enough. We're gonna have to beat them to it."

The path through the ice became a Combine building itself, and they walked in to find a huge window at the side. There was a massive chasm, and across it, a huge ship, floating in the water. Or, at least, sometimes it was. It was hazy and indistinct. Occasionally you'd get the briefest of moments when it would flash in to existence as real as they were, and then in other moments would appear to not be there at all. Sometimes it seemed like it wouldn't come back, before it faded back in.

It was mesmerizing, and Alyx said, "The Borealis. Incredible. That ship's been a legend since I was a kid. To think we're finally here..."  
She cleared her throat and finished, "Uh, we should get moving. If the Combine get on board before we do, I don't know what'll happen. Except it won't be good."  
They continued through the facility, which wound through the walls of ice that surrounded the Borealis. The next area looked like some kind of command center. As soon as a soldier saw them, it hit a button on a wall and alarms started to blare. Red lights coloured the room. Alyx and Gordon blasted at the soldiers, but it was too late.

Doors slammed down in front and behind them. They saw through cameras that soldiers were amassing beyond the door in front. But instead of coming in, they seemed to be waiting for something. A moment later, Gordon and Alyx heard a hissing sound. Alyx exclaimed, "Gas!" and tried to hack the door behind them, but it was too late.  
Everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

When they awoke, they were confined by familiar holding capsules, the same as in the Citadel. They initially struggled, but of course it was futile. At first all they saw was that they were surrounded by soldiers. But then, something came in the room, from the ceiling, suspended by a metal frame. At first, Gordon thought it was an Advisor. A slug was all it was, with only two metallic arms. But there were none of the traumatic mental blasts that usually characterized their presence. Instead, when it stopped, a pair of Stalkers walked up to it and attended it, then walked away.  
A moment later, a voice blared out of speakers on the walls.  
A voice very familiar, bristling with arrogance and contempt. The voice of Dr. Wallace Breen.  
"Doctor Freeman. Alyx Vance. How good of you to join me."  
Alyx's face was a mask of shock. "How? How are you alive? You're dead!"  
"Of course it may seem to be that way, my dear, but the Combine have abilities you have scarcely dreamt of. I am right here."  
He looked at the guards and said to them, "That will be all."  
A couple of the guards looked at each other, but then shrugged and left.

As soon as they were gone, the Breen-slug used its metallic limbs to push a button. The first time it tried, it missed, clearly unused to the limbs. The button released them and they were able to open their restraints and get out.  
The Breen-slug said to them, "I need your help."  
Alyx and Gordon were shocked, to say the least. Alyx just sputtered, "Our help?! Why the hell would we help you?!"  
The Breen slug responded simply, "Because what I want you to do-"  
It faltered for a minute, then mustered the strength to continue, "-is to kill me."  
Alyx and Gordon shot a glance at each other, and then Alyx replied, "Come again?"  
The Breen-slug told them, "I'm a slave to the Combine now. And I... I can admit when I'm shown so forcefully when I'm wrong. You have a real chance of defeating the Combine. All I am, now, is a remnant. No longer... no longer human."  
It was clearly upset now. Gordon, in all the years he'd known him, had never heard anything but arrogance in that voice, so it highlighted just how much things had changed.  
"Judith is below. The Combine have been forcing me to use her to bring the Borealis into phase so that we can board it. You need to do it. Use it to defeat the Combine. And kill me before they do. Or... before they do worse."  
The Breen-slug used a limb to access the controls to open the door. "Either way, you're free to go."  
Alyx gave a disgusted sound and said to Gordon, "Come on, Gordon, let's go. This is pathetic."  
She walked out of the room while Gordon stayed for a moment. The Breen-slug gave him a look that he could have sworn was pleading.

Shortly afterward they were continuing on. It wasn't long before they encountered more soldiers, so they didn't have time to discuss what had happened. They pushed one level down, where there was a room of cells. Only one was occupied- the one populated by Judith Mossman.  
She looked pretty rough. She had bruises on her face and blood on her clothes.  
She perked up when she saw them. "Alyx? Gordon? Thank god! Get me out of here!"  
Alyx just looked furious. "Why should we? You're working for the Combine! Again! How many times have you betrayed us?!"  
Mossman responded, "It's not like that. Everything I did, I did to help your father. The Combine let us work on our technology as long as they could have it too. Eli knew everything. He always knew I was working with them. But if I hadn't, they would have stopped us. We gave the resistance a fighting chance-"  
"Enough! I've had enough of your lies! Always manipulating! Dad trusted you, and now... now he's gone."  
Mossman put a hand on her chest and whispered, "What?"  
She sat down. "Eli's dead?"  
Alyx kept at her. "It's your fault! All of it! If you hadn't betrayed him, he'd still be here! We should just leave you to rot!"  
Gordon wasn't so sure. From what he'd seen, she'd genuinely been trying to help the resistance recently. And she and Eli had seemed to have a genuine relationship. It seemed harsh to be blaming Mossman for that.  
Mossman took a moment to compose herself, and then stood and said to them, "Either way, you need me. I've been trying to force the Borealis into reconciliation with our space-time. I know where the resonance keys are. We need to finish this. The Combine can't be allowed to have that technology."  
Alyx turned around and looked at Gordon. "On that we agree."  
She sighed heavily and headed for the console opposite the cells. A few moments later, the force field went down and Mossman stepped out. She said to them, "Right, let's go."

The next area appeared to be a scientific lab means to work on bringing the Borealis into phase. There were soldiers guarding it, and Mossman hid behind a corner while Alyx and Gordon took care of them. With the lab clear, Mossman accessed a console. She locked the door and then explained as she worked, "It's actually fascinating what's happened. Aperture used a form of quantum uncertainty for their teleporter, and managed to steer the probabilistic reconciliation to a target. But what they missed, which clearly they didn't test for, was that as the distance increases, so does the energy required to reconcile the uncertainty. Because they didn't have enough power, the ship has ended up kind of drifting between where it was and where it is. It's only because the reconciliation has partially taken place that it's visible to us at all."  
She shook her head in amazement as she worked on a console. "The work they did was incredible. Beyond anything- okay, here are the resonance keys. With these, we can temporarily reconcile the field."  
She looked at a monitor. "Uh-oh. We have company. A lot of it. We need to activate the resonators. There's one here, and two at other stations. They look clear, at least for the moment. But we need someone to protect this one and keep the Combine from coming after us. I'll activate a force field as well."  
Alyx thought quickly. "Gordon, while you protect this one, we'll go for the others. We'll be back soon."  
There was a familiar beeping sound- a breaching charge. Mossman amd Alyx rushed out of a door and a force field snapped on behind them.  
A couple of moments later, two doors simultaneously exploded. The room was fairly large, so there was plenty of room to maneouvre, but it was still a difficult fight.

Shortly after it ended, Mossman and Alyx came back. Alyx said to Gordon, "Looks like you had some fun."  
Mossman told them, "More will be coming. I'm bringing the resonators online."  
There was a buzzing sound that increased in pitch until it was inaudible. Then, the ever-present lights in the air began to change. They started to move quicker, and become brighter in some places while gone from others. Soon they were all gone, and Alyx looked out the window at the Borealis. "Look!"  
They all watched as it became more solid. "Alright, we should board before it goes out of phase again."  
Before they could, however, there was an explosion in the distance. Security monitors showed different parts of the facility, where Combine soldiers were fighting against what was initially an unseen enemy. They were defeated, and resistance fighters came into view.  
Mossman told them, "This doesn't change anything. We need to get on board, now!"  
They fought through Combine soldiers to get to the Borealis, this time at times assisted by resistance fighters. But the fighting was fierce, and whoever was now directing the Combine forces seemed determined to stop them from reaching the Borealis.


	5. Chapter 5

When they got there, they found that the Combine were already aboard. They were behind them as well- as soon as they boarded, they saw Combine attempting to gain entry. But they soon grew hazy, andthen altogether disappeared as the ship phased out.  
Gordon had a moment where he thought about it. They were onboard the ship, but the ship was essentially outside of time. So what were they existing in? Some kind of higher dimension of time?  
Things onboard were... odd. Gordon kept feeling like there were several of him. He looked at Alyx and saw her check her pistol... but also saw her not check it, simultaneously. His perceptions were off. Everything wavered. He surmised that the ship's quantum uncertainty was clearly existing, to a lesser degree, even inside.  
His thoughts were cut off by Mossman. She told them, "The Combine's plan was to take three main areas once they were on board. The power source, the control room, and navigation. That way they can control where the ship is going and properly reconcile it wherever that is. We need to do the same."  
Alyx nodded. "Right. Gordon, you lead the way. Just follow the signs."  
But she also said, "Gordon, take the lead." But that version was more indistinct. A lower probability, possibly. Gordon decided to focus on the higher probabilities and ignore the rest.  
They headed through the ship, clearing out the Combine soldiers that got in their way. Mossman stayed out of the fighting, but when she got to each area, she made adjustments to the machinery. As she did so, she explained what she was doing. "The power core has plenty of output to handle this. They retrofitted it with a nuclear reactor. We just need to crank up the output."  
Alyx asked her, "You sure you've done the math properly? Maybe I should check it."  
Mossman replied, annoyed, "My math is fine, Alyx."  
A lower probability version fired off an insult, but they ignored that.  
Gordon heard the power core change in pitch and volume as she adjusted it.  
In navigation, she told them, "The navigation system was overhauled, of course. Normal shipboard navigation systems aren't much use in interdimensional space. We should be able to... yeah, there it is. I've rerouted it to the control room. We should head there."  
Alyx sounded doubtful. "I'm not sure we should rely on it. They've already failed once."  
Mossman shook her head. "The navigation system worked fine. It was the power calculations that were the problem."  
At the control room, she told them, "The Combine were intending on just permanently reconciling the ship as originally intended. It looks like they haven't yet started that process."  
Outside, various different places appeared. While they were mostly in the ice cavern, they were sometimes in what had to be the original location the ship came from, as well as an area filled with Combine machines- striders, dropships, gunships, and an army of soldiers.  
Alyx told them, "That has to be a Combine staging area. If we set the power core to self-destruct, it would obliterate their ability to to take us on."  
Mossman replied, "This ship is too valuable to use as a weapon! We have to reconcile it as the Combine planned. Then we can help the resistance take back the base."  
Alyx replied, "You just want to give it to the Combine, don't you?! What will they give you for it, Mossman? Do you think they'll make you the new administrator or something?"  
Mossman replied, angrily, "Alyx, everything I've done is for the resistance! For humanity! This ship could give us the ability to travel throughout the multiverse at will!"  
Alyx shook her head. "My father wanted this ship gone. That might not matter to you, but it matters to me. We can't have another Black Mesa. The Combine won't get it."  
Alyx went to the controls and started to set the ship to go to the Combine staging area. What happened next was extremely confusing, with uncertainty rife.  
One version of Mossman allowed it, and the power core started building to self-destruct.  
Another version of Mossman wrenched Alyx back, and set it to reconcile in the ice cavern.  
Another version grabbed Alyx's pistol from her waist.  
Gordon didn't know what to do, because he couldn't make sense of any of it. Multiple versions competed for dominance.  
Then one version of Alyx, on the floor, raised her pistol. As another Alyx refused to back down, there were two gunshots.  
A moment later, the version of Alyx that had been shot faded out, as did the one where Mossman backed down.  
At the end, there was just Alyx, on the floor, with a smoking gun. And Mossman, realising what had happened. That, apparently, was how the quantum roll of the dice had come down.  
Mossman collapsed, and after a moment, Alyx pushed herself to her feet. The older woman was dead.  
Alyx braced herself on the desk, then pulled herself together, saying, "We need to finish this."  
She set the Borealis' core to overload, and navigated them to the Combine staging area.  
The ship reconciled in the middle of a Combine army. To them, it would appear as if the ship had appeared from nowhere. Now all they could do was wait for the core to melt down.  
Alyx turned to Gordon and told him, "This is how it has to be, Gordon. I'm-"  
She paused as something appeared off to the side. It was like a door in reality, opening and then closing. Out of it stepped a man in a blue suit, with pastel-white skin.  
"Sorry, Ms. Vance? Don't be. Doctor Freeman was always living on... borrowed time. His time is done. You, on the other hand..."  
The door into nothingness opened again. Alyx saw it and started walking towards it. Gordon wanted to stop her but found himself unable to. She walked through. The man in the blue suit gave Gordon a sideways glance, snickered and walked in after her. The door closed and they were gone.  
The core was now building up to a fever pitch. And there was another sound, familiar, but difficult to place. A kind of rumbling and humming.  
Gordon looked out the front of the ship. Now the view was clear, he saw something new- that in the distance, the land just kept going father than he would have expected. Eventually it was lost in mist.  
They were not on a planet. They were on a Dyson Sphere. His awe at the idea was interrupted as the rumbling and humming grew louder and more distinct. Voices. Voices that took physical form. Vortigaunts, which he recognised as having imbibed the Antlion larval extract. Before long they grew close to him. Two put hands on his shoulder. Everything went white.


	6. Chapter 6

In a void, there was a woman. Light brown skin, freckles, black hair... she was stopped. Time didn't pass for her.

Time did, however, pass for the individual that had suspended her. He kept her in that void, under his control. He would soon bring her to her new assignment- one that had been decided before he'd ever picked her up.

But first it was time for conference. Other individuals came. They saw her, and they seemed curious. Her supervisor presumed this was first time they'd seen a human. There is no way to describe those individuals, for they had no physical appearance. They simply were. There is no way to describe how they were different, for they did not even have a hierarchy. They simply were.

The supervisor waited until they were done inspecting her, then the first spoke. "This one. She is unremarkable. Your insistence on her use is puzzling."  
the second said, "Most puzzling."  
The supervisor replied, "She is... the right woman for the job."  
The was a pause. Then the first said, "Perhaps. But we are uneasy with this."  
The supervisor understood. Earth had been a troubling situation. Much had changed in a very short space of time. "Earth is primitive. It is a battleground, nothing more."  
The second said, "And yet, the humans have defeated a far more powerful enemy. They are resourceful. You know this, or you would not choose them as your agents."  
The supervisor bristled. "They are my agents only on matters pertaining to their world."  
The others stayed silent for a moment, knowing how empty that sounded.  
After, the supervisor replied, "You have made a decision." He stated it as a matter of fact. He knew their tendencies extremely well.  
The first said, "We wish to disengage with Earth. We are concerned. You yourself have found yourself... restricted. Events have not entirely been in your control."  
The supervisor considered disagreeing, but knew it would be no use. All he could do was limit the damage. He still hoped he could use this agent.  
"The humans were not the limiting factor."  
The second responded, "Their fate is intertwined. You cannot deny that things will grow increasingly complicated the longer we engage. And your first agent may be especially troublesome."  
The supervisor was unhappy with being outnumbered like this. He considered potential responses, then discarded them all. There was no argument that would assuage their concerns.  
The supervisor relented. It was clear that they were correct, but it would be a shame for all that work to go to waste. The manipulations had been delicate, perhaps more than any before.

But it was time.

Gordon Freeman woke on a beach. He could tell, because he could hear waves lapping at the shore not far away, and could feel sand on the back of his head.

He opened his eyes and sat up. The last thing he remembered, he was on the Borealis. Alyx was taken away, and then... Vortigaunts. They seemed to be making a habit out of saving his life.

There was a house just down the shore from him. It didn't look like much, but it was better than nothing. He started trudging towards it. Perhaps he'd be able to find the resistance. But as for whether he'd see Alyx again... well, he'd find a way. The Vorts could help. Whoever the man in the blue suit was, he was going to-

Gordon heard a sound behind him. A groan. He turned around, and found Alyx, sitting up in the sand, where Gordon had been lying.  
"What... what happened? We were on the Borealis, and then..."  
Her face lit up. "We did it, didn't we? We actually destroyed their staging area, and the Borealis. Dad would be so happy."  
She stood up, with some effort. "I think we should go find somewhere nice and quiet. I've had enough fighting for a while."  
Gordon said nothing. Would it help to tell her about what the man in the blue suit had said? That he'd taken her, and apparently let her go?

He decided, as he often did, on silence. Better to leave it alone.


End file.
